Busted have joked that they are back to being rivals with McFly.
James Bourne and Matt Willis – sans Charlie Simpson – joined forces with Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter, and Harry Judd of the ‘Obviously’ group to form the supergroup McBusted in 2013 until 2015.
And McFly recently teamed up with the pop punk trio on ‘Thunderbirds Are Go 2.0’ from their ‘Greatest Hits 2.0’ collection.
However, now the ‘You Said No’ hitmakers are back to writing new material, they have quipped that they are the better band.
Charlie told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at London’s The O2: “It’s not sneaky, it’s an absolute rivalry.”
James elaborated: “There’s no competition anymore, we’re the clear-cut favourites.
“No one remembers them. People used to come up to me and say, ‘I like you but I also like McFly’.
“Now they just go, ‘I’m so glad you’re back’. They don’t say anything about them.”
Matt added: “Yeah, they say, ‘We like you and we like Tom Fletcher’s band. You know, the rest of those guys.'”
Asked what to expect from their follow-up to 2019’s Half Way There’, he said: “We don’t really have any strict guidelines with what we’re making, so we’re just writing what we think is fun and exciting and cool.
“And if other people like it, great.”
When Charlie said they are “bangers”, Matt concluded: “They are bangers, aren’t they? I don’t want to jinx it but they’re really, really good.”
Meanwhile, Charlie’s other band Fightstar are reuniting for a huge one-off gig at London’s OVO Arena Wembley.
The heavy rock band – completed by guitarist Alex Westaway, bassist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi – will headline the arena on March 22, 2024.
It will mark the ‘Paint Your Target’ rockers’ first concert since their 2015 ‘Behind The Devil’s Back’ tour.
Their biggest concert to date will take place as the band celebrates 20 years together.
Charlie said in a statement: “Next year marks 20 years since Fightstar played our first show in a tiny night club in Northampton, mainly in front of friends and family.
“To be sat here today about to play our biggest ever headline show at London’s legendary Wembley Arena is something that is hard for us to comprehend. We are so thankful to all our fans who have been so loyal to us and we can’t wait to celebrate this milestone with them. This will be a very special night for all of us.”